CMS could improve the data it uses to monitor antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes Issue brief (United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Inspector General) United States. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (U.S.) Antipsychotic Agents -- standards Frail Elderly -- statistics & numerical data Government Regulation Nursing Homes -- legislation & jurisprudence Vulnerable Populations -- legislation & jurisprudence The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has oversight of Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes that are responsible for the health and safety of vulnerable residents. CMS is required to monitor nursing home activities, including how nursing homes use antipsychotic drugs to treat residents’ various conditions. These drugs can be effective in treating a range of conditions, but they carry risk and must be prescribed appropriately. CMS uses the Minimum Data Set (MDS)—i.e., data that nursing homes self-report—as its sole data source to count the number of nursing home residents receiving antipsychotic drugs. CMS has acknowledged the risk for inappropriate use of antipsychotic drugs. CMS has taken important steps to reduce the use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes and could further that progress by collecting more complete data on residents’ use of these drugs. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, May 2021 United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Inspector General. Office of Evaluation and Inspections, issuing body. Technical Report Text Illustrations 1 online resource (1 PDF file (22 pages)) nlm:nlmuid-9918384885506676-pdf 9918384885506676 http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918384885506676 English United States The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0